Paris, 7 December 2005 – The new President of the WEU Assembly, Mr Jean-Pierre Masseret (France, Socialist Group), said he thought we must look beyond the uncertainties surrounding a Constitutional Treaty that was still in the making, in order to address the first priority: the demand of all European citizens for greater internal and external security in the face of the new threats, including the threat of terrorism.

Stressing the legitimacy of an assembly composed of representatives of national parliaments, he said that in his view the WEU Assembly provided the most inclusive framework for defining a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). On the strength of the authority conferred on it by Article V of the Modified Brussels Treaty, the Assembly’s principal mission was – he said – to identify and assess threats, to identify and prepare the appropriate human and technical resources to defend Europe’s vital interests, and to adapt and adopt a more political project.

It would be a political mistake, he concluded, not to respond to the democratic message delivered by the citizens of Europe, who want a safer continent that will provide an element of international stability and who expect to exercise democratic control over this essential policy through the medium of their national parliaments.